Before Alec Baldwin's fatal shot at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while filming the western "Rust", the actor practiced gripping techniques with the revolver.

As director Joel Souza, who also suffered a gunshot wound in the accident on Thursday, reported to the Santa Fe County Sheriff, Baldwin tried a cross draw when a bullet came loose.

In the technique, the revolver is carried with the handle forward on the opposite side of the firing hand to allow the weapon to be drawn quickly. Baldwin is said to have leaned against a bench during the rehearsal scene in a church of the Bonanza Creek film ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, and aimed at the camera. Souza remembered a pop and Hutchins collapsing beside him.

The assistant director Dave Halls had previously handed Baldwin the prop weapon with the words "Cold Gun", when filming the reference to blank cartridges.

The 42-year-old camerawoman was shot in the chest and the 48-year-old director was hit in the shoulder.

After being transported by rescue helicopter, Hutchins died on Thursday at the University Hospital in Albuquerque.

Souza was released from the hospital a few hours after the accident.

Filming suspended for an indefinite period

While the sheriff and prosecutor continued to investigate over the weekend, the production company Rust Movie Productions LLC suspended filming for an indefinite period of time. Baldwin, who is also the co-producer of the western, also announced that he would be withdrawing from all film and television projects for the time being. "He needs time to himself to recover," a confidante of the sixty-three-year-old told People magazine. Baldwin burst into tears Thursday after a hearing at the Santa Fe sheriff's office. Accompanied by Hutchins' husband, lawyer Matthew Hutchins, and his nine-year-old son Andros, the Golden Globe winner attended commemorative events for the camerawoman in Santa Fe and Albuquerque over the weekend.

Meanwhile, various industry papers in Hollywood expressed doubts about the continuation of the shooting of "Rust".

The western, a production with a rather small budget of seven million dollars, is said to be almost 50 percent off.

Baldwin and his co-stars, including Frances Fisher, Jensen Ackles and Travis Fimmel, had been in front of the camera in New Mexico since early October.

Allegations against assistant directors

After the first indications of a tense atmosphere on the set, allegations against Souza's assistant Halls were raised over the weekend.

Halls, who worked on the sets of "Matrix Reloaded", "Kaltes Land" and "Fargo: Bloody Snow" in the past, is said to have neglected safety requirements and attracted attention through aggressive behavior.

Halls also handed the gun over to Baldwin on Thursday.

As Blumhouse Television confirmed on Sunday, the production company ended its collaboration with the assistant director in 2019 after two episodes of the series "Into The Dark". Several members of the film crew had unexpectedly resigned hours before Hutchins' death. Allegedly, there had been arguments about working hours, accommodation and safety on the set. The work of gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez, who was responsible for prop weapons, blank cartridges and the training of actors during the shooting, is said to have raised questions even before the fatal shot at Hutchins. "She was a little careless with guns and occasionally whipped around with them," recalled a colleague of working with the twenty-four-year-old on the western "The Old Way"."A couple of times she loaded the blank cartridges in a way that we thought was unsafe."

New Mexico state attorney in charge, Mary Carmack-Altwies, announced that she would not bring charges for the time being.

“The investigation is still at the very beginning.

We will examine all circumstances and evidence with the greatest care, ”said the lawyer.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff has announced a press conference on the state of the investigation for Wednesday.